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    The Silmarillion
    The Silmarillion
    The Silmarillion
    Audiobook14 hours

    The Silmarillion

    Written by J. R. R. Tolkien

    Narrated by Martin Shaw

    4/5

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    About this audiobook

    The forerunner to The Lord of the Rings, The Silmarillion tells the earlier history of Middle-earth, recounting the events of the First and Second Ages, and introducing some of the key characters, such as Galadriel, Elrond, Elendil and the Dark Lord, Sauron.

    The tales of The Silmarillion are set in an age when Morgoth, the first Dark Lord, dwelt in Middle-Earth, and the High Elves made war upon him for the recovery of the Silmarils, the jewels containing the pure light of Valinor.

    Included in the book are several shorter works. The Ainulindale is a myth of the Creation and in the Valaquenta the nature and powers of each of the gods is described. The Akallabeth recounts the downfall of the great island kingdom of Númenor at the end of the Second Age and Of the Rings of Power tells of the great events at the end of the Third Age, as narrated in The Lord of the Rings.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperCollins
    Release dateOct 29, 2015
    ISBN9780008168537
    Author

    J. R. R. Tolkien

    J.R.R. Tolkien (1892–1973) was a distinguished academic, though he is best known for writing The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion, plus other stories and essays. His books have been translated into over sixty languages and have sold many millions of copies worldwide.

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    Reviews for The Silmarillion

    4/5

    7,164 ratings162 reviews

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    • 5/5
      Had put off reading this for a long time having been told it was hard going! Not the easiest book I've ever read, but great once you get into it! Such a epic creation and legend of the people of middle earth!

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      This book would basically be the bible of Middle Earth. It's not an easy read if you aren't obsessed with the source material. But if you are, it's well worth your time.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      Brilliant. This book is the true testament to Tolkien's far-reaching imagination. If you think the Lord of the Rings was an epic book, think again - the ring saga is just a five page story at the end of this historical mythology woven by Tolkien. It is somewhat tough to read because of the plethora of character names, places, but also the huge amounts of time that pass in this book. Read about the creation of the Tolkien world, it's gods, the birth of elves, men and dwarves and the major events that have swept them over the lands of Middle Earth and beyond. Poetic beauty and vengeful evil are both found in abundance. Absolutely Magnificent with a capital M!

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      Truly testament to the unrivalled genius of Tolkien. Depth of the Legendarium alive as a real world teeming. Takes the audience upon a journey.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      One of my favourites. It has a broader, more epic scope than LotR and in my opinion, you need to read it to appreciate LotR fully.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      Wonderfully narrated, the epic nature of the sagas beautifully captured. Found this much easier to listen to than to read, definitely written for oratory.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 4/5
      Very cool to see the creation story of middle-earth.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      Amazing. The author created a whole new world. And as much as it is fantasy, its a fantasy that teaches...what it is to live a good life

      1 person found this helpful

    • 3/5
      I was a bit disappointed with the Silmarillion and I never finished reading it. I picked odd bits of interesting information, but much of it was frankly boring.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 3/5
      I almost gave this a four star but I had to really concentrate while listening to this book, otherwise I would start thinking of other things and miss great swaths of the book. However it has to be a high three star because while it's all tell and no show, the language is wonderful. Perhaps Martin Shaw reading this book aloud for me did the trick but I really enjoyed the sound of the reading - all those elven words sound so lyrical. It was probably a good thing I read The Origins of Tolkien's Middle Earth for Dummies book before reading this, because I feel I was able to take much more out of the stories due to knowing the overall plot-lines of each story. However, the Dummies book does have quote a few spoilers. I enjoyed the fact that this was like a bible for the Lord of the Rings series. And if you know your history, you can pull quite a bit of references out that may have inspired some stories. A lot was obviously taken from Christianity, but there's some Greek history there and Saxon, etc. Probably only for those big fans of Tolkien, but I enjoyed it more than anticipated.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      Epicest story I've read in my life as a human

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      Great listen! First half is pretty heavy history, lineage, and lore. Little more story after that. More of an overall summary of LOTR.
    • 5/5
      If you like Lord of the Rings and Middle Earth, this is a great summary of the early history and background of the storyline. It introduces the "gods" of Middle Earth, recounts the arrival of the various peoples, including Elves, Dwarfs, etc. Introduces Morgoth, Sauron, Orcs and other bad-nasties, and the men who would be heroes. This is a first class edition of the book. It has special binding, great illustrations, and an introduction. It's hard to slog through if you're not familiar with Tolkien's writing style, but well worth the effort.
    • 5/5
      Exquisite book and great reading. My first time finishing an audiobook.
    • 5/5
      Amazing book, good plot and very good writing. The voice actor and perfect for this kind of story. Totally recommend this book!!!
    • 3/5
      some parts had poor audio (overlapping narration). not sure if my device or the download was the issue.
    • 5/5
      Magnificent indeed are the works of Tolkien, a tale that carries both great joy and greater still than that, sorrow. But masterfully woven!
    • 5/5
      I am a Tolkien fan.. I loved listening to this book.
    • 4/5
      Difficult to follow and overly detailed but a great history for Tolkien fans. Provides all the context you’d care to read.
    • 4/5
      As I've always heard, this is a very hard read. It reads like a textbook but if you love Middle-earth lore there is so much information in this book.
    • 4/5
      So magical and whimsical and full of adventure! This book is not for those who are bored with history, fictional or real. It’s not a difficult book, it’s a magical one.
    • 5/5
      The depth that Tolkien goes into in these books is amazing, a whole history and languages! At times it’s hard to keep up at times with everything but I enjoyed it none the less.
    • 1/5
      Horrible. It reads like a textbook and put me right to sleep…so great for my insomnia. There is no story at all to this book. Only contains the world building facts. If you are a huge fan of Tolkien and just want more facts about the world, then this book is for you. If you like to hear a good story, however, just walk away from this one. I couldn’t even finish. I thought it was going to be more stories about the older characters, I was wrong.
    • 4/5
      Great but the tragedy of Beren and Luthien is so tragic that I think the story could only be read by people 8+ can read it!but still I think it’s a great book!
    • 1/5
      Ok, hear me out. I think The Hobbit is one of the best fantasy books of its time, and the Lord of the Rings trilogy is a great series if you can handle the density of the in world history.

      But The Simarillion is at its heart a retelling of Christianity, the parallels are all over it, and it’s written like it’s a religious tome. It’s lists of names, and short retellings of the history of Middle Earth. It covers eons in a couple hundred pages and really just leaves you wanting more from Tolkien that’s written in the style of The Hobbit.

      But it was really hard to listen to for me having come from a Christian background and leaving that cult because if felt like an author I e grown up with shoving that religion back down my throat, so I’m done with Tolkien for the foreseeable future
    • 5/5
      Wonderful! Great reader. Tolkien is an incredible storyteller. I enjoyed every minute.
    • 5/5
      Test z z z z z z z z z
    • 5/5
      Amazing. Blows my mind. Seemed to me this time as a complex poetic and fictional parallel to the Biblical Old Testament History. It could have been an inspiration, who knows?
    • 2/5
      A great audiobook, but not a great book. Christopher Tolkien's The Silmarillion very much feels like it's cobbled together from various mythologies and loose ends from JRR's work, and is nowhere near the quality of the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings. A dreary, hopeless pseudohistorical slog, its incongruous nature is evident from shoehorning the Olympian gods into scraps of Norse myth, and making Sauron, simultaneously a werewolf and a vampire, into Vader to Morgoth's Palpatine. If you love the wordier mythologies (e.g. Indian, Chinese) and Warhammer 40k, then you'll love The Silmarillion. If you love the Lord of the Rings and Hobbit, steer clear.
    • 5/5
      An epic. A classic. Sophisticated yet moving; tragic but glorious. Tolkien’s greatest literary achievement.